Growth inhibition by vaccinia virus growth factor

Vaccinia virus growth factor (VGF), a highly glycosylated 77-residue epidermal growth factor (EGF)-like polypeptide encoded in vaccinia poxvirus, is reported to play an important role in stimulating growth of uninfected cells to facilitate virus infection. We have chemically synthesized the unglycosylated forms of VGF and VGF19-69, a shortened VGF analog consisting of 51 residues and comprising the EGF-homologous region (position 19-69) of VGF. Both synthetic forms of VGFs were purified to homogeneity and vigorously characterized by various criteria, including the Cf-252 ion fission fragment mass spectrometry, amino acid sequencing, and enzymatic digestion to confirm the disulfide linkages. Synthetic VGFs exhibited high affinity binding to the EGF receptors in A431, NRK 49F, NRK clone 3, and NIH 3T3 cells, but, unlike the glycosylated form, showed contrasting mitogenic activities in various cells in vitro. Synthetic VGFs showed low levels of mitogenic and colonogenic activities in NRK clone 49F cells and NIH 3T3 cells, full agonist activities in human keratinocytes and Swiss 3T3 cells, and partial agonist activities in NRK clone 3 cells. Our results suggest that the unglycosylated form of VGF is an EGF antagonist to selected cells and that the production of unglycosylated form of VGF by the cytolytic vaccinia virus may serve as a mechanism whereby inhibition of growth and metabolism of selected host cells may be used to facilitate the propagation of the virus infection.